Ways Athletes Use Chiropractic
If you’re an athlete or just a weekend enthusiast, you understand the numerous demands of participating in a sport such as running, jumping and tackling. Putting your body through these activities can result in painful tears, sprains, and strains. But seeing a chiropractor can help you when you’ve suffered sports injuries and also help to prevent them! Experts estimate that 90% of all world-class athletes use chiropractic care to prevent injuries and increase their performance potential. All National Football League (NFL) teams rely on DCs in varying capacities, and 77 percent of athletic trainers have referred players to a chiropractor for evaluation or treatment. You don’t have to be an athlete to benefit from regular chiropractic care. Here are some of the many ways chiropractic can help :
Undo the punishment the body takes in sports
Many athletes swear by the positive effects of chiropractic when talking about their personal successes. Two notable names like Lance Armstrong, Barry Bonds, Dan O’Brien and Arnold Schwarzenegger, to name a few, swear by their chiropractors. Athletic performance is affected by a combination of strength, flexibility, speed and coordination. Participating in sports is encouraged because of the many benefits. Not only is a person getting exercise when playing, but they are also developing fine motor skills, learning about teamwork and fair play and of course building friendships. But their bodies are also taking impacts no matter what sport they are playing.
When the spine exhibits imperfections in movement and/or alignment, the resulting vertebral subluxations can create focal areas of irritation in the nervous system, which subsequently interfere with the optimum functions of all other systems. As a result, athletic performance suffers. When athletes are adjusted regularly, they will often attribute their success to regular chiropractic care.
Chiropractic care treats a variety of sports injuries
Athletes can experience many different benefits from receiving chiropractic care. Not only can adjustments help when treating injuries from high-impact sports such as wrestling, football, and hockey, but they offer other benefits as well. It’s been shown that high-impact sports can place the same amount of strain on the body as an auto collision. Athletes getting routine adjustments may notice improved athletic performance, improved range of motion (especially in endurance athletes), better flexibility, increased blood flow, and may suffer from fewer injuries. Some of the most common sport injuries treated are: headaches, shoulder pain, and ankle injuries.
Non-Invasive Injury Treatment/Prevention
Any DC who specializes in treating athletes should be prepared to treat the whole person, and tailor a comprehensive program aimed at injury avoidance. Initial evaluations should include not only traditional orthopedic tests, neurological examinations, and consideration to supplement physical exam findings with any additional diagnostic evaluations, if appropriate or a referral if indicated. Numerous studies support the fact that chiropractic care helps athletes achieve an optimal level of performance. Chiropractors complete this without the need of painkillers and invasive surgery. Instead chiropractors use techniques such as:
Active Release Technique where massage and stretching are combined with moving the affected joint through a range of motion,
Graston Technique that uses stainless steel tools to break down scar tissue.
Functional dry needling where deep trigger points are focused on to release tension in the muscles through stimulation.
Electrical muscle stimulation to release tension towards the surface of the muscle using contraction caused by electricity.
Decrease Pain
The spine is an important physical structure that contains many pain-sensitive tissues: Most notably, joints, muscles, nerves, discs and ligaments. If there are any abnormal alignment patterns in the spinal column, this can place an abnormal amount of stress and strain on any one of these tissues. In a recent article reviewing the effectiveness of spinal manipulation, chiropractic adjustments were consistently better than other medical options in reducing the intensity of acute low back pain, plus restoring normal function, both for short-term and long-term effects.
